Big Blue to learn from gaffes

EAST RUTHERFORD – Seeing on film what happened defensively against LeSean McCoy at crucial moments of the second half in Sunday’s 19-17 loss to the Eagles did not make the reality any easier for Chase Blackburn to accept.

The Giants’ middle linebacker was brought back to his childhood the day after and not necessarily in a good way.

"At times I feel like it was, if you ever watched Little League soccer, where the ball goes everyone runs, and that’s kind of the way it was at times where everyone was chasing the ball," Blackburn said of how the Giants gave up containment against McCoy, who picked up his fourth 100-yard game in seven career starts against Big Blue. "That’s what’s heartbreaking about it: We had it the whole first half. You can’t have the tale of two halves like that and we need to stay more consistent. That’s kind of been the M.O. of our team lately, since I’ve been here, the inconsistency part of it and that’s what we need to get back to: being more consistent.

"We can’t keep doing this over and over again."

Yet that’s exactly what the Giants did against the Eagles, reliving their mistakes from the Week 1 loss to the Cowboys during which they lost containment on DeMarco Murray and failed to maintain rush-lane discipline when chasing Tony Romo.

This time, the lapses came against Mike Vick and McCoy, both of whom punished the Giants by milking the clock and keeping the defense on the field during a 12-play, 75-yard, 4:56 drive that led to Alex Henery’s decisive field goal.

"We arrived on the scene with three or four white shirts in the first half, and then the second half we were arriving on the scene with one guy responsible," Tom Coughlin said. "Even sometimes when we had people in the contain position, the next defender was also out there, which let him cut up inside. OK, how about if [players said] ‘I’ve got this gap, you take that one’ – that would work out pretty good."

In hindsight, Coughlin admitted he would have been more conservative on the Giants’ final possession that ended with Lawrence Tynes’ missed field goal from 54 yards.

"It was just tough because we knew we had it right before our hands. We knew how hard we played and we wanted to get the win," Mathias Kiwanuka said. "But give them credit: They deserved to win that game and we knew it, which is the tough part."

Saddled with an 0-2 record in the NFC East, the Giants are looking forward to another chance at correcting what went wrong against the Eagles down the road.

"Everybody knows we’re going to see Philadelphia again the last game of the regular season," Eli Manning said. "I have a feeling that’s going to be a big game for us."

PHILLIPS HAS MCL SPRAIN: S Kenny Phillips has a sprained MCL in his right knee and Coughlin assessed his status as being "week to week."

Coughlin did not have much more to add regarding WR Hakeem Nicks, who missed his second consecutive game after being downgraded to "out" Saturday with swelling in his left knee.

Nicks has been nursing his surgically repaired right foot since coming off PUP in training camp. He apparently injured his knee when he landed hard on it after a deep incomplete pass against Tampa Bay in Week 2. Bucs safety Mark Barron stepped on his right foot, which forced Nicks to limp off and miss a play.

"I won’t know until I see what happens, where he’s at as we go forward here and analyze him and the doctors get their hands on him again and he communicates with them," Coughlin said.

When asked if Nicks’ knee has improved, Coughlin added: "Not that I know of."